From Takow to Kaohsiung

Caotun 草屯 Township, Nantou County

Until given the name Caotun (草屯; literally "grass barracks") in 1920 during the Period of Japanese Rule, this area was known by the Hoklo Chhau-e-tun (草鞋墩; Mdn. Cao-xie-dun; literally “grass shoe mound”).

The origin of the earlier name is not certain, but is said to derive from the township’s location on the eastern edge of a flat basin where pioneers, porters and commercial travelers would enter and exit the central mountains. Needing stout shoes for the task ahead or wanting to replace damaged shoes on their way down, they perhaps bought new straw sandals, discarding their old ones in an ever-growing mound.

Three popular explanations for this event were: i) soldiers led here by Koxinga being equipped with new straw sandals, which would date it to 1661~62; ii) soldiers involved in the Lin Shuang-wen Incident of 1787~88 (林爽文事件; see Changhua County); or iii) porters carrying salt to Puli late in the Qing dynasty (i.e., late-19th century). But none of these is possible, since Koxinga and his soldiers never came here, and the name was mentioned in official documents as early as 1758.

The Japanese-era renaming not only shortened the three characters to two but also changed 墩 (Hoklo tun; Mdn. dun; “mound”) to 屯 (Hoklo tun; Mdn. tun; “barracks/camp”) in line with similar names in central Taiwan.



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